Additionally, according to Kabbalah, the first half of the night, before midnight, is when G-d’s attribute of justice and severity is predominant. This is manifested by the skies become progressively darker. The second half, after midnight, is when G-d’s attribute of kindness is at the fore, and the skies become progressively brighter towards morning. The night is divided into two opposites: withholding versus giving; dark versus light, punishment versus reward.

However, the instant of midnight is a moment which G-d alone can identify, since we cannot pinpoint time, always finding ourselves a nanosecond before or after midnight. Any moment which seems to be midnight can be further divided into two – half of that moment being before midnight and half afterwards. Likewise, midnight can neither be a time of divine justice nor of kindness. The night’s midpoint supersedes these opposites. It is a moment that fuses and transcends both of them.

Midnight expresses G-d’s way of relating to the world above and beyond the natural system of reward and punishment. At midnight, it did not matter whether or not the Jewish people deserved to be saved. When G-d spared His people from death at the stroke of midnight, He expressed His essential love for them—a love of His children which transcends all calculations of justice or reward.¹